iPhone owners are more loyal to their chosen handset than Android fans are to theirs.
So says GfK, a market watcher, after interviewing 4,500 folk across Europe, the US, Brazil, China and Japan.
It found that 84 per cent of iPhone users will buy another Apple handset when they upgrade, the company told Reuters.
Only 60 per …

COMMENTS

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Today's headlines...

Exactly

Statement of the bleedin' obvious. iPhone is the best for me for sure. There are points in a consumer's life when they say "OK, this is the brand for me, I can stop frettin' about choice in this area and devote the mental energy to something else." Doesn't always work though, I can't get spares for my Saab any more. But I wish all these other companies would stop aping iPhone (why can't they do something original?) and nipping at Apple's heels and getting me all confused again.

Yes and no... Apple is Fashion

Fashion companies (and Apple is certainly more of a fashion firm than a tech firm) know how to run their businesses to cope with the seasonal changes and fashion changes.

Apple has used a great tactic used by many of the NY and Paris fashion firms for centuries which is to "Define what fashion is" and then sell it. Fashion companies often do it by publishing magazines... big sexy advertisements... even doing things like making something insanely ugly and selling it as elite fashion (think clamshell iBook).

Now that Apple is no longer a tech firm and is almost entirely transitioned to as a fashion firm, they'll perform business appropriately and they'll protect their label appropriately.

Samsung on the other hands IS NOT a fashion company... even if much of what they make is pretty. They aren't sexy and they have no clue how to be. They are a tech company trying to steal market share from a fashion company instead of defining themselves as "the alternative choice".

Just ask yourself why women drool over Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Tiffany even if 99% of the stuff those companies make are ugly as shit. Those companies have been around a long time and they manage to keep on growing. Apple knows why.

AOL customers?

AOL

Whenever an AOL customer asks me for help / advice they are always scared of leaving AOL, they think that what they're getting is special and easier and more effective than what everyone else uses, and they don't realise how locked-in they have become.

I'd call it loyalty; not good loyalty but they do keep handing over the money.

90s

Fanboys stories were true?

So some views that Apple fanboys will systematically buy Apple products, even though they are overpriced and not always the best alternative (c.f. all iPhone woes), might have been true?

With the missus, we are on our second Blackberrys, and we previously had a mixture Motorola/Sagem/Nokia/Sony Ericsson/Siemens/Samsung, and to be honest, I can't say that a brand was systematically crap and another was systematically good. When our 24 months contracts finish, we'll do as usual: read reviews, try in shop, and pick the best choice overall. If that's an iPhone, so be it, but they'd have to come free with our cheap-contracts-with-cashback!

ay?

HHow does that Samsung advert help Apple? It highlights how superficial and shallow Apple fan bois are. I suspect this article was written up by an Apple fan at the register in order to put some kind of defensive response up against against that article from yesterday. Creative? No. Cocoon away from the rest of world in an apple ecosystem ? Yes.

Regarding loyalty, around me most iPhone users stick with iPhone, a couple moved to various others...android have all kept with android but have moved to different manufacturer. All Nokia owners have moved and we never had blackberry or winpho fans.

No, it re-enforces your prejudice that Apple buyers are superficial and shallow and then attempts to sell their product on equally superficial and shallow points - why on earth would anyone give a monkey's about getting a 4G phone when 4G is deployed roughly nowhere?

You can just about get away with that sort of thing when you're a small player in the market coming up against a very large competitor, but when you have almost the same market share, you just end up looking like you have no real confidence in your own products.

Imagine that advert with the "creatives" using Samsung phones and the "cool kids" using iPhones. Would it make you more or less likely to buy an iPhone? I think you would even further lower your opinion of Apple and it would probably do the same for anyone sitting on the fence. That is why that advert probably helps Apple more than Samsung - I personally don't identify as one of the "creatives", but I identify even less with the smug, condescending Samsung owners.

To quote Futurama 603...

Its cos they're...

"Dumb Bastards"

Im sure Apple are so proud they've managed to snag the idiots. Personally I wish we had human cloning already, 10 years of inventing gory imaginative ways of executing clone steve jobs's would just about calm my ire regarding how he brought the smartphone into the dance of the idiots. Not to mention what his 'legacy' has done to personal privacy & security of same.

Loyalty?

Brand loyalty is the most pointless thing ever. Why would you buy an inferior product for more money simply because you've bought that brand in the past? It's not like after 20 years of buying XYZ brand, that company is going to turn round to you and be 'loyal' back. "Oh, you can't afford a phone these days - well, you've been buying our phones for twenty years, so have a free one on us." Don't think so.

It's all about the apps

In the case of Apple, migrating would also require the re-purchase of all the apps you've bought. It's stupid to buy into Apple now, but if you bought into smartphones early when the iPhone was the only real contender it makes a lot more sense to stick with it.

(Android users spend less on apps, which also explains the lower retention rate for that system.)

Ever wondered if the idiot if the guy you see each morning in the mirror? All those iPhone users may be right and you may be wrong.

Some people are happy to change their phone every 12 months - I want a phone that gets good support and works - it's only an Apple iPhone 3GS but it's still going strong (compared to colleagues who seem to have to tinker / change their Android phones all the time).

People would buy another iPhone because it 'just works' and works well - looking good is not so much of an issue but seems to be with Samsung et al as they clearly felt the need to copy it so closely.

Oh Dear....

"Not to mention what his 'legacy' has done to personal privacy & security of same."

That cracks me up - it's ironic...

The typical Android user is running an old version of the software which is often near impossible to upgrade (without jailbreaking etc. which most people would not do) so security = crap. There is little / no checking of apps that go on Android = trojans etc. So security = Apple win.

I'm not skint, exactly, although buying an iPhone is still not a trivial expense for me, and I was seriously tempted by the Galaxy (can't remember the exact model) when my contract on the iPhone 3G was up. But after hearing a mate who's a phone reviewer (and a complete Droid fanboi) going on about how this ROM fixes this and that ROM improves that and how you need a separate app for playing audiobooks, well, I lost the enthusiasm, bit the bullet and bought the iPhone 4. And you know what? It's not cheap, it doesn't have the biggest screen, but it really does just work (TM).

Am I too daft to fiddle about with a phone with superior specs in order to make it work perfectly? Perhaps. I prefer to think I just don't have the time.

Two Explanations for This – Pick One

1. The iPhone is quite good, people like them, they tend to work reliably and they make people happy.

2. iPhone users are complete idiots. Mindless zombies under control of the baby eating, jackboot wearing oppressors who hate freedom and whose success is due to marketing, fashion and absolutely no other reason whatsoever.

One of these explanations belongs on planet Earth. One is borne out of unhinged nutzoid hate. Pick which is which.

I pick number 3.

Sheeple

Every time I go past the Apple stores in Covent Garden and Regent St, my heart sinks a little for humanity. Isn't it a little sad that, on one of your two days off in the week, you decide to go and sit upstairs in what must be the "Apple cafe" (assuming you wait long enough in the queue outside the store) to be with other "likeminded" Apple fans?

I find the whole obsessive cult of Apple a little creepy and insidious. The reality behind the shiny low-density stores is a sweat-shop workforce, producing products high on style low on substance.

disclaimer: I own neither Apple nor Android smartphones. I am 30 y.o and am otherwise entirely integrated into modern life.

Re: Android users are probably... bla bla

judasphone.com

I knew some Android users had a lot of free time, as they spend days of their life fussing around with ROMs to fix the crappy functionality of their phones... but whoever made that website clearly had WAY too much.

Why is so much effort poured into just criticising a mobile phone? Seems a bit odd to be honest.

Funny that, my iPhone is really good at making calls. So are my HTC Mozart and Orange San Francisco. They all have their strong points and weak points; FWIW, I prefer the iPhone, but each of the mobiles are more than capable devices, I just personally prefer iPhone.

What irks me about the rampant levels of fuckwittety elicited on these "hallowed" pages is that you are all supposed to be fans of technology. So the iPhone, for what ever reason doesn't work for you and you know what, that's fine. No one ever said that you have to buy one. That you and other people have put some actually quite creative energy into making a site like that is sadly pathetic and the level of vitriol is actually quite disturbing. I get that it a "joke" and some are quite funny. The way that you take it as a personal afront when someone dains to suggest your preference is less than perfect is pretty damned childish and the minute someone expresses the fact that they are happy with an Apple product, they are derided and characterised as idiotic fanboys that are unable to think for themselves. Its like thinking differently from you is forbidden. Ironically, the copy cat comments that are seen daily expressing this suggest the contrary. You'll all throw around accusations of Apple's Orwellian grip over their ecosystem, yet if someone expresses a difference of opinion over which android handset is the best, then they face the wrath too!

Re:

Indeed, and for all the folks out there who bizarrely don't appreciate having the choice of selecting whether they like iOS, Android or BlackBerry best, just imagine a world where there is Windows Mobile on handsets... and NOTHING ELSE.

i think i'm one of the few using the "troll" button when i'm trolling, but there's busloads of people on here who flame for the sake of flaming (as do i every now and then).

There is no sane argument against apple products, they come with certain rules, just like any other platform, you either accept them, or chose a different product.

alright, i'll take of my apple bashing trollface mask off for once and do an honest reply.

there's absolutely nothing wrong with Apple products, you can debate the pros and cons about it, but when you put all devices side by side, they're all pretty good. Don't let trolls get to you, trolls are not to be fed afterall. if you like Apple products, who are we to tell you you're an idiot?